Perhaps Governor Granholm's most absurd idea, though not the most costly, was the "Cool Cities Initiative". This was the idea that the way to turn around the economy is to spend a bunch of taxpayers' money on liberal 'artists' to make cities 'cool'. This idea is extensively debunked in the following article.

Snyder said the state needs to emphasize arts and culture to create cities attractive to young college graduates, noting the thousands of people attracted to downtown Grand Rapids last fall by the first annual ArtPrize competition.

But Hoekstra said putting money into "cool cities" initiatives won't help if young adults have to leave the state to find work.

This interesting post comes from Paul Petersen, a Tea Party leader and candidate for state house in Berrien County's 79th district. It examines the relationships between Fred Upton, John Proos, and Al Pscholka.

If you have a mailbox on your property, you’ve seen them — either inside the mailbox or attached to the side or in your newspaper box next to the mailbox.

They are fliers advertising something or promoting a particular candidate.

It’s a convenient way for those advertisers and politicians to get you their materials.

It’s also illegal.

The truth is that the U.S. Postal Service discourages people from using their mailboxes as a drop-off point, said spokesman Victor Dubina. “Technically, we own the inside of a mailbox,” he said.

Really? Who paid for the mailbox? A citizen who paid for his own mailbox owns it, no matter what the 'law' says.

Why so picky?

There are two things to consider: First, the postal service is mainly concerned about things that could be mailed. “If it’s something that’s mailable, postage should be paid for it” in order for it to be placed in the mailbox, Dubina said.

...

The postal service has two concerns about your mailbox becoming a train station: Officials don’t want solicitors putting fliers in every mailbox instead of mailing them. And they don’t want people sticking their hands in your mailbox without your permission. “By having control of the inside of the mailbox, we can better protect the sanctity of the mail,” Dubina said.

This is the real issue. The Post Office is a monopoly that hates competition. While 'postage should be paid' for anything that the Post Office delivers, by what right do they demand that postage be paid for mail that they did not collect, transport, sort, or deliver?

It is high time that the postal monopoly be abolished and free competition in mail delivery be established.

A question that sparked some of the strongest responses, mostly negative, was whether to increase the beer tax by 4 cents per can, generating almost $90 million a year for the state.

“That’s just a drop in the bucket; that is not enough to cure all ills,” Schuitmaker said.

Plus, she said, she has visited with proprietors of “corner stores,” which she called important job providers, and “their concern was that it would significantly hurt their business.”

DeShazor echoed her comments, saying “they have a very thin profit margin.”

“The problem of picking on taxes like the beer tax,” Jones said, “is you're not including everyone in the process.”

“Right now, given the state of our economy, the answer is not to raise taxes,” Totten added.

Only Wenke said he would consider raising the beer tax, which he said hasn’t been increased in many years. He said lobbyists for beer companies court legislators with food and cash gifts. “It’ll probably cost me some money talking to you about it,” he said.

Asked whether they favored a graduated income tax — which KCASI members support — over the state’s current flat-tax system, the candidates split along party lines.

“It allows for a fairer way of collecting taxes,” said Jones, who said he favored putting it to a public vote. The vote would be necessary because it would require a constitutional amendment.Totten said it was not a radical idea, particularly since it is used in the federal government.

But DeShazor said “a graduated income tax would be a disaster right now,” and Schuitmaker and Wenke both said they would be opposed to it if it came to a vote of the people, with Schuitmaker saying more people might leave Michigan if the change were approved.

The most popular and respected ratings of how conservative members of Congress are are the ratings produced by the American Conservative Union. They cover a broad range of issues and are not selected to promote or impugn particular members. The votes selected are (almost) never announced ahead of time, avoiding a source of bias that affects the ratings of many other organizations.

How conservative is the voting record of Congressman Fred Upton of Michigan's 6th district?

Upton's highest percentages occurred in 1992 and 2010 when he was being challenged for renomination by conservative State Senator Dale Shugars and conservative former state rep. Jack Hoogendyk, respectively.

All 38 seats in the Michigan Senate are up for election in 2010. The majority of current senators are term-limited. Republicans currently have a 22-16 majority, and have controlled the senate for the past 25 years.

1. [eastern Detroit] Safe democrat.Incumbent: Hansen Clarke (term-limited, running for Congress against incumbent Carolyn Kilpatrick)Candidates:Democrats: Dobey Gavin, LaMar Lemmons, Lisa Nuszkowski, Mary Waters, Coleman YoungRepublican: Dakeisha HarwickAnalysis: Lemmons, Waters, and Young are current or former state reps. Lemmons is a campaign finance scofflaw, Waters is under indictment, and Young is the young son of the late race-baiting mayor of Detroit.

6. [Livonia, Westland, Redford] Toss-up.Incumbent: Glenn Andersen (running for reelection)Candidates:Democrat: Glenn AndersenRepublican: John PastorAnalysis: This district was drawn to lean Republican. Andersen defeated Republican senator Laura Toy in 2006. Toy dropped out of the race to defeat him this year. Pastor is a former state rep. from Livonia.

7. [western, southern Wayne County] Toss-up.Incumbent: Bruce Patterson (term-limited)Candidates:Democrats: Kathleen LawRepublicans: Patrick Colbeck, Abe Munfakh, Dan Osterman, Deborah WymanAnalysis: This Republican district is highly vulnerable. Law is a former state rep. Munfakh is a conservative businessman and township official, while Osterman is a libertarian.

10. [central Macomb County] Toss-up.Incumbent: Mickey Switalski (term-limited, running for Congress against incumbent Sander Levin)Candidates:Democrats: Paul Gieleghem, Carl MarlingaRepublican: Tory RoccaAnalysis: Rocca is a state rep. from Sterling Heights, Gielegham is a Macomb County commissioner, and Marlinga is a former Macomb County prosecutor who left under an ethical cloud. This race should be highly competitive.

11. [northern Macomb County] Safe Republican.Incumbent: Alan Sanborn (term-limited)Candidates:Democrats: Jim Ayers, Jonathan GarstkaRepublicans: Jack Brandenburg, Leon Drolet, Kim Meltzer, Colleen SaputoAnalysis: Brandenburg, Drolet, and Meltzer are current or former state reps. Drolet is a libertarian and leader of Michigan taxpayers alliance. Brandenberg is a conservative who does not represent much of the district. Meltzer is a conservative who has proposed restrictions on illegal immigration similar to those passed in Arizona.

16. [Lenewaee, Hillsdale, Branch, St. Joseph Counties] Safe Republican.Incumbent: Cameron Brown (term-limited, running for Secretary of State)Candidates:Democrat: Doug SpadeRepublican: Bruce CaswellAnalysis: Both are current or former state reps.

19. [Calhoun, Jackson Counties] Safe Republican.Incumbent: Mike Nofs (running for reelection)Candidates:Democrat: Brenda AbbeyRepublican: Mike NofsAnalysis: This seat was held by democrat Mark Schauer until he left for Congress. Nofs won a special election overwhelmingly of Martin Griffin in 2009. Democrats did not recruit a credible candidate this time.

20. [Kalamazoo County] Toss-up.Incumbent: Tom George (term-limited, running for Governor)Candidates:Democrats: Robert Jones, Mark TottenRepublican: Larry Deshazor, Tonya Schuitmaker, Lorence WenkeAnalysis: George won a close reelection in 2006 over Alexander Lipsey. Jones is a popular state rep and former mayor of Kalamazoo. Totten is a law professor who has received much financial support from outside the district. Both are liberals.DeShazor is a state rep. from western Kalamazoo County. Schuitmaker is a state rep. who represents a small part of VanBuren County. Wenke is a former state rep. from eastern Kalamazoo County. All three are moderate to conservative.

36. [northeastern lower peninsula, Midland] Toss-up.Incumbent: Tony Stamas (term-limited)Candidates:Democrat: Andy NeumannRepublican: John MoolenaarAnalysis: Neumann narrowly lost a race to the incumbent in 2002. Both candidates are state reps.

38. [Upper Peninsula] Leans democrat.Incumbent: Mike Prusi (term-limited)Candidates:Democrat: Michael LahtiRepublicans: Tom Casperson, Jeff PaulinAnalysis: Lahti is a state rep. Casperson is a former state rep. who lost to Congressman Bart Stupak in 2008.

59. [St. Joseph, Cass Counties] Safe Republican.Moderate Republican Matt Lori, elected in 2008, is safe in this heavily Republican district against democrat Carol Higgins, who he defeated in 2008.

60. [Kalamazoo City] Safe Democrat.Democrat Robert Jones is leaving after two terms to run for state senate. Former Kalamazoo City Commissioner Sean McCann, former WMU student Chris Praedel, and Dustin Harback will compete for the democrat nomination. McCann is heavily favored to win. The Republican nominee will be pastor Jeff Fernandez.

61. [western Kalamazoo County] Safe Republican.Republican Larry DeShazor is leaving this district to run for the state senate. This district saw close elections in 2006 and 2008, with democrat Julie Rogers narrowly losing to Republicans Jack Hoogendyk and DeShazor. In 2008, democrats made a major push to take this district, spending half a million dollars on the race. Also in 2008, there was a hotly contested Republican primary, with DeShazor narrowly defeating Portage City Council member Margaret O'Brien. This year, O'Brien, a conservative, is unopposed for the Republican nomination, having put together a strong campaign early on that dissuaded any potential Republican rivals from running.

The democrats totally failed to recruit a strong candidate, ending up with unknown Thomas Batten. He is the weakest democrat nominee for this seat in a decade, certainly compared to Julie Rogers, James Housten, or Curtis Bell. There is no sign that democrats will expend effort on this race, and 2010 is likely to be a much more Republican year than 2008. Batten will be opposed by write-in candidate Grant Taylor, brother of John Taylor, who failed to get on the ballot due to not living in the district long enough.

62. [Calhoun County] Likely democrat.Democrat Kate Segal easily won this swing district over flawed Republican nominee Greg Moore, taking over for retiring Republican Mike Nofs. The Republican nominee this year will be Steven Mobley.

63. [eastern Kalamazoo County, northwestern Calhoun County] Safe Republican.Republican Jase Bolger, conservative, won this district in 2008, succeeding the retiring Lorence Wenke, who is running for state senate. Bolger won pretty easily in 2008 and should have no trouble against democrat Dave Morgan.

78. [southern Berrien County] Safe Republican.Republican Sharon Tyler won a close election in 2008, succeeding term-limited Republican Neal Nitz. She faces democrat Cindy Ellis. At this time it does not appear that the race will be highly contested.

79. [northern Berrien County] Safe Republican.Incumbent Republican John Proos is term-limited and running for state senate. The republicans running to succeed him are Paul Peterson, a local Tea Party leader and staunch conservative, Al Pscholka, the district director for Congressman Fred Upton, and Bruce Gorenflo. The democrat candidates are Mary Brown and Julee Laurent.

80. [VanBuren County] Leans Republican.Incumbent Republican Tonya Schuitmaker is term-limited and running for state senate. Six Republicans are competing for nomination. They are Douglas Harrington, Shelly Hartmann, Bob Linderman, Aric Nesbitt, William Queen, and Frank Thompson. Harrington is Lawrence Township Supervisor. Nesbitt is a former staffer for Tom George and Tim Walberg. Thompson is a businessman. The democrat nominee will be Thomas Erdmann, a county commissioner.

87. [Barry, Ionia Counties] Safe Republican.Incumbent Brian Calley is running for state senate. The three Republican candidates are Michael Bremer, Mike Callton, a businessman, and Steve Fabiano, a businessman.

88. [Allegan County] Safe Republican.Republican Bob Genetski, a staunch conservative, will have no trouble in Heavily Republican Allegan County. The democrat nominee will be Randy Thompson.

Where are all the liberals who claim to be so concerned about violence from Tea Parties and militias? Conservatives often point out the contrast between treatment of sympathy for communism and sympathy for Naziism. But here we have students with a 'God Bless Hitler' sign.

He will be running against State Rep. Robert Jones in the democrat primary. Jones is clearly the candidate of the democrat establishment, which means that they will probably arm-twist Taylor until he drops out of the race.

Many races are uncontested. No Republicans filed for districts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. No democrats filed for districts 8 or 14. A couple of these races have contested primaries, however. We profile the contested races below.

3. [Edison neighborhood] Safe democrat.Incumbent Robert Barnard is being challenged by Eric Sweet in the democrat primary. This blog is unfamiliar with Mr. Sweet. Barnard is likely safe.

6. [eastern and northern Kalamazoo Township] Safe democrat.Incumbent Franklin Thompson is being challenged by Michael Seals in the democrat primary. Thompson, who is in his mid-80s, is disliked by local democrat leaders. However, he has easily rebuffed primary challenges the past couple elections.

7. [Milwood area] Safe democrat.Incumbent David Buskirk is being challenged by Republican Kai Phillips. Buskirk is a long-time popular incumbent, and is safe here. Phillips ran unsuccessfully for Kalamazoo City Commission last year.

9. [northern Portage] Leans Republican.Incumbent Republican Nasim Ansari is being challenged by democrat Chuck Vliek. Ansari, a veteran of the County Commission and Portage City Council, was first elected with 67% of the vote in 2002. However, he has faced closer elections since then, dropping to 52% in 2008. Vliek is the son of longtime Portage City Council member Ted Vliek.

10. [central Portage] Toss-up.Incumbent democrat Michael Quinn is being challenged by Republican Phil Stinchcomb. Quinn was elected in 2008 by defeating former Portage Mayor James Graham, who did almost no campaigning. Republican Tom Drabik was retiring. Quinn opposed the arena proposal and cosponsored a measure that would have prevented abortion funding, which may alienate some democrats. Stinchcomb is a conservative Republican who ran unsuccessfully for Portage City Council last year.

11. [Texas Township] Safe Republican.Republican Tim Rogowski will seek a full term after recently being appointed to fill the seat of the late Grady Biby. He will face John Cross in the Republican primary. Rogowski is a moderate, while Cross' politics are unknown. Democrat Barbara Hammon is also seeking this seat, which is the most Republican in the county.

12. [Oshtemo Township] Toss-up.Democrat John Nieuwenhuis faces competition in both the primary and general election. Both Oshtemo Township Trustee Scott McCormick and Scott Spicer are running for the democrat nomination. Nieuwenhuis defeated incumbent Republican Bob Brink, who did little campaigning, in 2006 and held off Republican Chris Haenicke in 2008. McCormick did no visible campaigning in 2008 and was elected purely based on straight-ticket voting. It isn't clear why both he and Spicer are running. The Republican nominee will be Brandt Iden.

15. [Comstock Township] Leans Republican.Incumbent Republican Ann Nieuwenshuis faces democrat Leroy Crabtree, who she unseated in 2008. Nieuwenhuis, a moderate Republican, opposed the arena while supporting abortion funding. She was one of very few Republicans in the state to unseat an incumbent democrat in 2008. Crabtree, a moderate union democrat, unseated Republican Joe VanBruggen in 2006.

16. [Pavillion, Climax, Fulton Townships] Leans Republican.Incumbent Jeff Balkema is retiring. Republicans will choose between John Gisler, a leader of a local taxpayers group, and John O'Keefe, whose politics are unknown. Thomas Post, who ran several close-but-losing races against Balkema, will be the democrat nominee.

Around 25 minutes in, talk turned to immigration. Upton was asked what he thought about the Arizona immigration law. He never answered the question. He talks about securing the border for a couple minutes. Then he admitted (27:12) that

"I am for comprehensive immigration reform. We were moving a bill, when Republicans controlled the Congress, that was stopped. We have not seen such action take place by Speaker Pelosi"

'Comprehensive immigration reform' is the term that amnesty supporters use for allowing illegal aliens to stay in this country. The 2006 bill was stopped by Republicans in the House thanks to massive public outrage against amnesty.

Sunday, May 09, 2010

Senator Bob Bennett of Utah was denied renomination at the state Republican convention on Saturday. Bennett is an establishment Republican who supported the bailout, a mandate to buy health insurance, amnesty for illegal aliens, and big spending. Utah Republicans had enough and voted to send two more conservative candidates, Mike Lee and Tim Bridgewater, to the Republican primary.

Media reports stated that delegates were full of 'anti-incumbent rage'. They renominated plenty of other incumbents with no contest, but if you decide to vote for someone different, it must be RAAAAAGGGGGEEEEEEE!!!!! rather than just preferring a different candidate.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the head of Western Michigan University’s economics department told commissioners that building an arena in downtown Kalamazoo wouldn’t spur economic development in the region.

He noted that the Kalamazoo Wings and Western Michigan University’s hockey and basketball teams already have venues in which to play and so a new event center would not bring new wealth into the community.

Another view:

Vice Chairwoman Buchholtz said she respected Kern’s opinion but argued the Kalamazoo event center is unique because it also involves housing and an educational partnership for a culinary school and urban gardens, she said.

Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Legendary Detroit Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell passed away yesterday. I can't improve upon this piece by Jack Hoogendyk from last September when Ernie announced that he has incurable cancer. Ernie is in a better place now.

Ernie Harwell, Hall of Fame broadcaster who for 42 years, brought the Detroit Tigers into our homes, and under my pillow as a young lad, announced today he has incurable cancer. He handled the public announcement just the way you would have expected him to; with humility and a positive outlook. You can read a full account of his announcement here.

I have admired Harwell since my earliest memories of Tiger baseball. I used to stick my little transistor radio under my pillow at night, when they were playing the Angels or the Athletics out west. Invariably, I would fall asleep before the game was over only to be awakened by the National Anthem playing as the radio station signed off the air. Of course, back then, there was no way of finding out who won until the next day when the newspaper arrived.

One of the greatest thrills of my life was the day I had fly out to California from Detroit and found myself on the same flight with about half the Tigers team and Ernie Harwell! They were heading out to Anaheim to play after the all-star break. There was a mix-up in the seating assignments and I found myself sitting in business class. About halfway through the flight I looked over and saw Ernie sitting across from me, glancing at the in-flight magazine. I knew he had to bored. The seat next to him was empty, so I took a chance and sauntered over.

He was happy to chat with me about any subject I desired. I had a chance to find out a little about Ernie Harwell, the man. We talked about what kind of car he drove, the love of his life, Lulu and other subjects. I didn't engage him for too long. I gave him my card and walked back to my seat.

When I returned home, several people told me Ernie had mentioned my name on the radio. I had told him I would be attending the game in Anaheim; he told the radio audience that a fan from Detroit was at the ball park.

A Man of Great and Abiding Faith

There were many things about Ernie Harwell to admire as a professional and as a person. But to me, what was most to be admired was his abiding faith in Jesus Christ. He was an example to all those around him and was never afraid to share his faith, yet he did not wear it on his sleeve. For him it was a way of life.

Even now, as he tells the world of this devastating disease, he does it the same class he has always exhibited . "I really feel good. I've got a great attitude. I just look forward to a new adventure," Harwell told the Free Press. "God gives us so many adventures, and I've had some great ones. It's been a terrific life. Of course, the best thing that ever happened to me was my wife, Lulu. I'm just happy that we were able to reach our 68th wedding anniversary."

That pretty much says it all. We love you, Ernie. May God continue to bless you in this, the sunset of your life on earth.

President Obama picked Kalamazoo Central for his high school commencement speech. Gazette reporter Julie Mack speculated that "Picking a winner, which the president is expected to do by Tuesday, is likely to boil down to what kind of message Obama wants to send about education reform." Thus it is no surprise that he picked a traditional public school over a charter school and a Montessori school.

The late Western Michigan University President Diether Haenicke has stated privately that many graduates of Kalamazoo Central are functionally illiterate.

State senate candidates Lorence Wenke and Larry DeShazor both sent emails congratulating Kalamazoo Central, while Tonya Schuitmaker did not.

Central's graduation was originally going to be held in Wings Stadium, but officials are now looking for a bigger venue.

Why didn't we build a downtown arena???

My advice: make sure to find a venue big enough to accommodate everyone who wants to come. Somewhere like VanAndel Arena, Ford Field, or Cominski Field.

The bill is so common-sense that it is hard to see how anyone can oppose it. It allows police to ask for identification when there is cause to believe that someone who has already been stopped is here illegally. It also stops the 'Sanctuary cities' which forbid police from cooperating with federal immigration officials. The law largely mirrors longstanding federal law, with the difference that it is more likely to be enforced.

How often did the media dub Obamacare 'controversial'? Would they have done so if it had 70% support instead of 40%?

Naturally, liberals did what they always do when their position is totally indefensible to normal Americans. They launched a massive smear campaign. They accused the bill of instituting 'racial profiling' and anyone supporting the bill of being RACIST RACIST RACIST!!! But the bill has absolutely nothing to do with race. Illegal aliens come in all races. Furthermore, the bill specifically bans 'racial profiling', as do existing state and federal laws.

The other big lie promoted by the left is that the bill will create a Nazi-like police state where cops will demand 'Your Papers, Please!' to any and everyone. This is so slanderous as to defy belief. The bill does not give police any power to stop people that they don't already have. As with any crime, police need a reasonable suspicion before they can stop someone. Moreover, have the people so worked up about Your Papers never heard of drivers licences? Police demand those papers of everyone they pull over.

The real haters in this debate are on the left. Calling someone a Nazi is the worst thing that you can say about him (even worse than RACIST!). Calling Arizona, and by extension America Nazis for enforcing existing immigration laws is an expression of hatred for America. Leftists want to destroy America by overwhelming us with a flood of illegals and are enraged that anyone would stand in their way.

The real racists in this debate are the Hispanic groups that are attacking Arizona and America. The biggest is La Raza, aka The Race, which incredibly was founded by a Nazi sympathizer. They held protests/riots on Mayday and before, committing acts of violence and vandalism that would have been national news if done by Tea Party members.

It would seem that the plan didn't have the support of a majority of county commissioners needed to put it on the ballot in August. November appears to be out as well. Why? Because the voters aren't buying it.

“There’s not enough votes to be able to vote on it right now to put it on the ballot,” said Buskirk, D-Kalamazoo. “Right now, the board feels there’s no way that the public would approve it, so why even vote right now?

Even Ken Miller admits that there would have to be a months-long propaganda campaign to convince the voters to approve this turkey.

“In fairness to the general public, there needs to be a significant amount of educational campaigning done,” Miller said. “That takes time.”

K Central is a finalist in the Race to the Top High School Commencement Speech contest. Previous rounds were decided by online voting, but the final pick is Obama's. It isn't clear what the point of the competition is. It seems as if which community is the best at Obama-worship may be the real criterion.

While such a speech may be special to the students, it will be a headache for everyone else. The freeway will be shut down for several hours, snarling local traffic. Cities that more regularly receive Presidential visits aren't nearly as thrilled.